Monday, July 31, 2017

Week 3 Adventures!

This week, unlike last week, had a bit more excitement to it.

Wednesday, I went to karaoke with some of the people from the seminar house. After having a bit of difficulty getting inside (I had trouble speaking with the worker), I finally got inside and I got to sing some songs.

I do have an example of when I sang, however, the file size is too big.

Thursday, there was a party on campus. One of the clubs was putting on an event to help students meet each other at a restaurant either right outside one of the gates. They had lots of different food to eat (pizza, clams, rice, different types of spaghetti, etc.) and two different things for everyone to do. One was the spiciest pizza I have ever had the displeasure of eating (I swear I have burns on my tongue from it). The other was bingo. They actually gave away some really good prizes (tickets to Okinawa, a bicycle, gift cards, and someone from the seminar house got a picture). It was a lot of fun and I am glad I went.

I talked a little with some first year student.

They asked for a picture with me and I said yes. I also got a picture with them.

That weekend, however, was the best part. Yuuka had to go home and her parents invited me over. I accepted and after Yuuka was done with her part time job, we took the trains over.

The town is called 富田林市 (Tondabayashi City). It is a 'small' town of just under 113,000 people and is in the Osaka prefecture. It was late at night when we got there, so we went straight to Yuuka's home and had dinner with her mom and little sister (her dad was working late).

For dinner, we all pitched together and made takoyaki!

I wasn't the best at flipping, but I had fun making it and they tasted really good.

The next day, after breakfast, Yuuka showed me around the town.

This is one of the elementary schools. It houses grades that are the American equivalent of 1-6.

This park is very much like a park that I can find in America. Small parks are all over this town and any other average town in Japan.

A junior high school. They hold the American grade equivalent of 7-9.

This is Dai Heiwa Kinen To. We didn't go up it, but you can see it from pretty much anywhere in Tondabayashi.

We also went to a local department store. They had one of those wheels where you spin it and a ball comes out. Because I made a purchase, I was able to spin it once. I got the lowest prize - a 50 yen off coupon for half of the department store. I gave it to Yuuka's mother to use.

For lunch, we picked up Yuuka's grandparents and went out for conveyor belt sushi.

The sushi is made fresh by the chefs and then put on the conveyor belt. The different style of plate used determined the price of the item.

Everything I tried was good.

The sushi was really good, but be careful; the price can and will add up very quickly.

Afterwards, Yuuka's little sister was dropped off at her high school for club and Yuuka and I took the trains back.

After we got back and dropped off our things, we went to karaoke with two of Yuuka's friends, Yuki and Shiori. I had a lot of fun singing with them.